The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is in contact with Hamas and the Israeli authorities in order to the hostages are releasedwhich keeps the Palestinian movement in Israel, according to today’s announcement.

The ICRC he also called on “the two sides to limit the suffering of civilians”.

“As a neutral mediator we are ready to carry out humanitarian visits, to facilitate communication between the hostages and their family members as well as any release”, underlined Fabrizio Carboni, regional director of the ICRC for the Near and Middle East region.

Taking hostages is prohibited under international humanitarian law and all those held should be released immediately, Carboni added.

Dozens of Israelis and foreigners — soldiers, civilians, women and children — are believed to be in the hands of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities have counted 150 hostages, while hundreds of people are still missing and bodies have not yet been identified.

So far it hasn’t happened no formal release of hostages.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also started a negotiation process with Hamas aimed at releasing the hostages, an official source told AFP yesterday, Wednesday.

The ICRC official also expressed his concern for the fate of civilians in the Gaza Strip, which is constantly bombarded by the Israeli armed forces in response to the attack by Hamas. The war has already killed thousands of people on both sides.

Israel imposed a complete siege on the Palestinian enclave, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off water, electricity and fuel supplies.

As electricity in Gaza has been cut, “hospitals are without electricity, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. The blood purges have stopped and X-rays cannot be done,” Carboni underlined.

“Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues“, he complained, stressing that access to drinking water is already difficult. “No parent wants to be forced to give dirty water to a thirsty child,” he noted.